Category Archives: Community

Capitol Hill Community Post | Whim W’Him’s Choreographic Shindig IV

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WHIM W’HIM, SEATTLE CONTEMPORARY DANCE COMPANY KICKS OFF 9TH SEASON WITH 4TH ANNUAL DANCER CURATED PROGRAM, CHOREOGRAPHIC SHINDIG IV

Whim W’Him kicks off their 9th season September 7-15, 2018 with the Choreographic Shindig IV. For the 4th year in a row, dancers will perform 3 world-premiere contemporary dance creations created by choreographers they chose from an international call for applications.

ABOUT THE CHOROGRAPHIC SHINDIG
The Choreographic Shindig was created in 2015 to give our dancers the power to choose which choreographers would set work on them. This unique program helps us achieve our mission to provide a platform centered around choreography and dance for artists to explore their craft through innovation and collaboration. We are the only company in the region with this kind of program.

For our 4th Choreographic Shindig dancers have selected artists hailing from New York, Chicago and Puerto Rico: Brendan Duggan, Co-Founder and Co-Director of LoudHoundMovement (LHM), a contemporary dance collective based in Brooklyn; Alice Klock, Hubbard Street’s Choreographic Fellow in 2017 and one of Dance Magazine’s 25 to watch in 2018; and Omar Román De Jesús, The Dance Gallery Festival and Reverb Dance Festival award winner.

All three choreographers are new to Whim W’Him and were selected via a competitive application process. In April 2017, Whim W’Him posted an international call for choreographers to apply to the WWCS. The company received close to 200 applications from all over the world and from choreographers ranging in experience and diversity. Guest choreographers will work with the dancers in the studio for eight-week residencies that culminate in 7 performances of a 90-minute split bill program at the Erickson Theatre Off Broadway on September 7-9 & 12-15, 2018.

WHIM W’HIM CHOREOGRAPHIC SHINDIG IV
September 7-9 and 12-15 at 8PM
Erickson Theatre Off Broadway
1524 Harvard Ave, Seattle, WA 98122

$30 advance | $35 day of | $55 premium | $15 student tickets | $5 TeenTix

Season tickets range from $75-$175
Single tickets and season subscriptions are on sale now at brownpapertickets.com

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Whim W’Him company dancers for the 2018/19 season are Liane Aung, Cameron Birts, Jane Cracovaner, Adrian Hoffman, Jim Kent, Mia Monteabaro and Karl Watson. Dancer bios can be found at whimwhim.org/meet-our-dancers

Olivier Wevers, Artistic Director
Dedicated to creating works of artistic innovation and collaboration, Brussels- born Olivier founded Whim W’Him in 2009. Before establishing the company, he was a principal dancer with Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. His awards and recognition include the Princess Grace Foundation Choreography Fellowship, the City of Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award, the grand prize award for an unprecedented two years in a row at the annual Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival in California, and the ArtistTrust/ Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship Award. He participated in the National Choreographers Initiative and the prestigious New York Choreographic Institute. Olivier has created works for companies and festivals around the world, including Pacific Northwest Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, Northwest Dance Project, BalletX, Spectrum Dance Theater, Prix de Lausanne, White Bird’s 4×4 Ballet Project, and Dance the Dream Seattle.

Alice Klock, Choreographer
Alice Klock trained at numerous ballet company schools, Interlochen Arts Academy, and the Alonzo King’s Lines BFA program. She joined Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s second company in 2009 and was promoted to the main company in 2011. Alongside performing she has created choreographic work for Hubbard Street, SALT Contemporary Dance’s LINK Festival, The Nexus Project, Loyola University, Neos Dance Theater, Visceral Dance Chicago, and NW Dance Project’s LAUNCH. She has been a winner of numerous choreographic competitions including Hubbard Street’s International Commissioning Project, NW Dance Project’s Pretty Creatives International Choreographic Competition, and Whim W’him’s Choreographic Shindig. She was named Hubbard Street’s Choreographic Fellow in 2017 and one of Dance Magazine’s 25 to watch in 2018.

Omar Román De Jesús, Choreographer
Omar Román De Jesús (San Juan, PR) began his formal training at School for the Performing Arts in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico. Omar was a member of Balleteatro Nacional de Puerto Rico from 2006-2011. During this period, he won the Championship Cup and Gold Medal at the National Dance Competition in Puerto Rico. He received scholarship to the Ailey School in 2011. He performed at Parsons Dance and Ballet Hispánico where he did works by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, Robert Battle, Trey McIntyre, Kate Skarpetowska, Michelle Manzanales, Tania Peréz-Salas, Carlos Pons and Ephrat Asherie.

Omar’s choreography has been recognized for its originality, and he has been praised for his ability to craft an emotional arc. He has received awards from The Dance Gallery Festival and Reverb Dance Festival. He has been commissioned by Steps Repertory Ensemble and Instituto de Cultura de Puerto Rico. Omar’s new work, DANIEL, was commissioned by Parsons Dance for the company’s 2017 Joyce season as part of its initiative to support emerging choreographers through David Parsons’ GenerationNow Fellowship. He was one of the winning choreographers for the Joffrey Academy of Dance’s 8th annual Winning Works Choreographic Competition.

Brendan Duggan, Choreographer
Originally from Amherst, New Hampshire, Brendan Duggan is a Brooklyn-based dancer and choreographer who has been creating original works since 2010. He holds a BS in Dance from Skidmore College, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. Throughout his performance career, he has had the pleasure to perform with artists such as Deganit Shemy, Gallim Dance, Danaka Dance, Loni Landon, Danielle Russo, Emily Terndrup, Third Rail Projects’ The Grand Paradise, and most recently, Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More.

As a choreographer, Duggan was a Co-Founder and Co-Director of LoudHoundMovement (LHM), a contemporary dance collective based in Brooklyn. While directing LHM, Duggan’s choreographic work has been presented at The CURRENT SESSIONS, The Playground AfterDark, The Freight Project, The Dance Gallery Festival, FAB! Festival NYC, Gowanus Art + Production Presents!, Hoover Dam Collective, The Creator’s Collective, Inception to Exhibition (ITE), Dixon Place, Pushing Progress Showcase, Springboard Danse Montreal (QC), Place des Arts (QC), APAP at the 14th St Y, the Excognito Dance Festival, Gibney Dance Center, Leona Wagner Black Box Theater in Salt Lake City, The Brooklyn Brewery, The Center for Performance Research, and Western Michigan University. In addition, Duggan has served as a faculty member at Peridance Capezio Center and Gibney Dance as well as a guest artist at Western Michigan University, Brigham Young University, Skidmore College, Marymount Manhattan College, The Pointe Academy, Creative Arts Academy, among others.

ABOUT THE COMPANY
Whim W’Him is an award-winning Seattle-based contemporary dance company founded in 2009 by Olivier Wevers, former Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer and choreographer. The company presents all new works and has a mission to be a platform centered around choreography and dance for artists to explore their craft through innovation and collaboration. Since its formation in 2009, Whim W’Him has created 50 new contemporary dance works with 31 global artists. whimwhim.org

Capitol Hill Community Post | The Northwest School grows campus with $2.35 million property purchase

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From The Northwest School

The Northwest School announced today that it has purchased a 5362 square foot property on Capitol Hill for $2.35 million, an acquisition that will allow for new classrooms and offices and further develop the central campus area between Bellevue and Crawford Streets.

“We are extremely excited for this opportunity to create a more cohesive and connected urban campus and to provide new teaching and learning spaces for faculty and students,” says Head of School Mike McGill. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Community Post | David Schomer’s Urban Cycling

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(Image: CHS)

From David Schomer, Espresso Vivace

Nothing beats a bicycle for urban transportation.  A bike is fast and small, never boxed in, and you park it right in front of wherever it is you were going.  You smell the air and feel the weather, lungs and legs pumping. It is blissfully quiet and ultra-cheap to own and operate. But mixed in with trucks, buses and angry car-commuters it can be dangerous.

Since my discharge from the Air Force in 1978 I have ridden about 100 miles per week in and around Seattle.  This experience includes 30 years of commuting from Fremont to Capitol Hill. Add it up…that’s over 200,000 miles, so I would like to share some of my experience with you and hopefully make you a safer rider.

Ride your bike with courteous authority.  Perhaps no activity demonstrates the benefits of empathy and kindness towards each other (the components of courtesy) than the sharing of urban roads to move around.  And a lack of courtesy, or simple mistake, can lead to a situation where a driver is deliberately threatening your life. We are generally a passive, polite bunch in Seattle, but on the road acts of rudeness can carry a potentially lethal response from another person.  The reckless disregard for life shown by frustrated drivers is beyond belief sometimes… Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Community Post | 12th Avenue Stewards donate chairs to 12th Ave Square Park

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From the 12th Avenue Stewards 

In time for the 4th of July, 12th Avenue Stewards donated five movable “adirondack” chairs to 12th Avenue Square Park at 12th and E. James Court. The colorful chairs provide impromptu seating for visitors to relax and soak up the sunshine.

12th Avenue Square Park includes the Cloud Veil sculpture and the bouncy, blue, round informal stage. The sculpture features 9 convex mirrors gathering and reflecting the scene. An oversized picnic table is one of the popular features in the park. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Community Post | New Seasons Market Is pinkwashing over anti-LGBTQ owner

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By Danni Askini and Dustin Lambro

In a textbook example of pinkwashing, New Seasons Market, a grocery chain with stores on Mercer Island and in Ballard, handed out Pride t-shirts to employees and sponsored Seattle Pride.

Pinkwashing is the term for the common practice of putting up rainbow flags during Pride celebrations in June, then ignoring us the rest of the year. For New Seasons Market, pinkwashing is sponsoring Seattle Pride while one of its owners, the Murdock Trust, sends millions to groups that fight LGBTQIA rights at every turn. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Community Post | New Seasons Market Shares Seattle’s Progressive Values

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By Kristi McFarland and Forrest Hoffmaster, Co-Presidents, New Seasons Market

At New Seasons Market, we were excited to open our second Seattle area grocery in Ballard in May. We believe our commitment to delicious and healthy food, community advocacy, environmental sustainability, the regional food economy and progressive workplace policies aligns with values important to the people of Seattle. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Community Post | Mayor Durkan honors six community members at 2018 Pride Awards

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From the office of Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan

In her first Pride Awards presentation, Mayor Durkan took the opportunity to honor the achievements of six members of the LGBTQ community. This year’s award winners have extensive experience in advocacy, leadership, and the pursuit of equality – many of the winners have worked on behalf of Seattle’s LGBTQ community for decades.

“Louise, Monisha, and Charlene are forces of nature and have fought for years to improve the lives of the LGBTQ community through policy and legislation,” said Mayor Durkan. “Beto and Tristen continue to raise their voices for social justice while empowering others to do the same; and Aleksa deploys humor and wit while challenging our biases and raising awareness around the important issue of addiction, which affects the LGBTQ community at a disproportionate rate. Together, these six 2018 awards recipients represent the best of Seattle.”

The 2018 Established Leaders Pride Award winners are: Continue reading →

SPONSORED: Wooded William Bain Home in North Capitol Hill

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(Images: Ewing and Clark)

Sponsored post by Ewing & Clark

1700 17th AVE E | $8,800,000 | 4 BEDROOMS | 5 BATH | 7,740 SQFT | BUILT 1938 | MORE ABOUT THIS HOME

Springtime activity in the real estate market accelerates today in the listing of a 3.7 acre parcel with historic home in the heart of Capitol Hill. The home on the north end of 17th Avenue East has undergone an extensive renovation including all systems, windows, floors, bathrooms, interior finishes, infrastructure, landscaping, as well as outbuildings. The verdant surroundings include beautiful, time- honored trees and a picturesque outlook towards Lake Washington, Union Bay and the Cascade Mountains. This romantic parcel situated beside Louisa Boren Park has had only a handful of owners in its eighty year history. In addition to the house, features include a swimming pool with cabana, regulation half-court basketball court, a second 3-car garage, and an expansive meadow. The property is gated and fully fenced and represents the largest residential parcel on Capitol Hill. Listed for $8,800,000. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Community Post | Seattle evaluates options to encourage backyard cottages, in-law apartments

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From the Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development

The City of Seattle continues to seek public input on the environmental review of options to encourage the development of more in-law apartments and backyard cottages that would allow for more rental housing in the city’s single-family zones.

The review evaluates a proposal advanced by Councilmember Mike O’Brien that aims to remove regulatory barriers and make it easier for property owners to build Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs).

Current City ordinances allow two types of ADUs: in-law apartments inside a single-family home and detached backyard cottages. Seattle homeowners have created 1,591 in-law apartments and 579 backyard cottages since first allowed in 1994 and 2010, respectively. Homeowners received permits to build 263 ADUs last year. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill Community Post | Northbound I-5 down to two lanes through Seattle May 19-20

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From WSDOT

Revive I-5 work is back in Seattle this weekend, but people throughout the region will need to plan for delays on major highways and city streets Saturday, May 19, and Sunday, May 20. The work willreduce northbound Interstate 5 to two lanes between the West Seattle Bridge and the University District – that’s more than 7 miles.

In addition to northbound I-5, people using I-405, I-90 and state routes 99, 509 and 599 will see heavier traffic as travelers avoid the region’s main interstate. The express lanes will be northbound only all weekend, creating backups on southbound I-5 in south Snohomish and north King counties as well.

Contractor crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation will replace concrete and the left half of 10 expansion joints. WSDOT maintenance crews will also repair aging concrete on the Lake Washington Ship Canal Bridge to keep it in a state of good repair until the bridge can be fully repaved in a few years. All the work is weather-dependent.

Closure details
8 p.m. Friday, May 18, to 5 a.m. Monday, May 21: Contractor crews will reduce northbound I-5 to two lanes between Michigan Street and State Route 520. Ramp closures include:

  • Dearborn Street on-ramp to northbound I-5
  • Northbound I-5 off-ramp to Seneca Street
  • University Street on-ramp
  • Mercer Street on-ramp to northbound I-5 mainline (Mercer on-ramp to the express lanes will remain open)

 3 a.m. to noon Saturday, May 19 and 3 to 10 a.m. Sunday, May 20: Northbound I-5 will remain two lanes between SR 520 and Northeast 45th Street for Ship Canal bridge maintenance:

  • Between noon Saturday and 3 a.m. Sunday, northbound I-5 will be three lanes so new concrete can cure in the left lane.

Drivers need to plan ahead
Starting at the West Seattle Bridge, northbound I-5 will be two lanes. The right lane will split off for the collector/distributor and the exits to James and Madison streets. The left lane will go to the express lanes.

People going to downtown Seattle exits need to use the right lane; the first express lanes exit is north of Lake Union in the University District. People with destinations north of Lake Union should use the left lane and express lanes.

 To limit congestion on northbound I-5, drivers should:

  • Use alternate routes like I-405, SR 99, SR 509 and S99
  • Use light rail
  • Carpool
  • Avoid discretionary trips

Know before you go
Before heading out the door, travelers should get real-time traffic information about #ReviveI5 on their phone with the WSDOT traffic app and by tracking the WSDOT Traffic Twitter feed.

Hyperlinks within the release: